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  3. Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

На славу постарались

English translation: outdid themselves

21:09 Oct 28, 2010
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Russian term or phrase: На славу постарались
Столы ломились от яств деликатессных, там было все самое лучшее, что может быть.
Родители на славу постарались.

Можно, конечно, сказать просто:
* The parents did their best *

Но хочется подобрать более емкий, выразительный вариант..
PaulinaK
United States
Local time: 04:57
English translation:outdid themselves
Explanation:
But, is it "the parents" or "their parents"? Depends on what's come before.

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Note added at 7 mins (2010-10-28 21:16:33 GMT)
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And "outdid" is handy because it will serve either for the magnitude of the effort, or for the quality of the outcome.
Selected response from:

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 07:57
Grading comment
Thanks, I will go with this option in my text :)
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +7outdid themselves
Rachel Douglas
4 +1have risen to the occasion
Eric Candle
5(parents) had done their best to get glorious results
Andrei B
5 -1parents' efforts were glorious
Michael Kislov
3went out of their way / did a fantastic job
Mikhail Kropotov


Discussion entries: 6





  

Answers


6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
outdid themselves


Explanation:
But, is it "the parents" or "their parents"? Depends on what's come before.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2010-10-28 21:16:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And "outdid" is handy because it will serve either for the magnitude of the effort, or for the quality of the outcome.

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 07:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 84
Grading comment
Thanks, I will go with this option in my text :)

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mikhail Kropotov: Good!
9 mins
  -> Thanks, Mikhail.
agree  Kiwiland Bear
13 mins
  -> Thank you.
agree  David Knowles
15 mins
  -> Thanks, David.
agree  Judith Hehir: Nice!
20 mins
  -> Thanks, Judith.
agree  Arkadi Burkov
7 hrs
  -> Thanks, Arkadi.
neutral  Andrei B: "outdid themselves" has an exact Russian equivalent (превзошли себя) meaning the best result ever achieved (by the parents), but на славу means just an excellent result, not the best one
10 hrs
  -> Thanks for the discussion. If that's what "прввзошли себя" absolutely always means in Russian, then it is not that rare bird in languge, an "exact equivalent," because the English expression has greater flexibility than its literal interpretation.
agree  Olga B
19 hrs
  -> Thanks, Olga.
agree  Oleksiy Markunin
22 hrs
  -> Thanks, Oleksiy.
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
went out of their way / did a fantastic job


Explanation:
The question is whether they expended so much effort or did such a great job.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 mins (2010-10-28 21:24:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In "did their best" there is a slight hint of "yet it wasn't enough."
(Just an observation.)

Mikhail Kropotov
Germany
Local time: 13:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 63

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Kiwiland Bear: I think "went out of their way" also has a slight hint to it - this one of inconveniencing themselves
6 hrs
  -> Point taken, thanks
neutral  Andrei B: Agree with K. Bear about inconveniencing (e.g. "We appreciate anything you can do, but don't go out of your way.") And "great/fantastic job" does not connote so much effort, whereas постарались does
10 hrs
  -> We don't know the whole context, but you guys have a point. Thanks for your comment, Andrei.
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34 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
have risen to the occasion


Explanation:
***

Eric Candle
Local time: 07:57
Works in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexandra Goldburt: I base my "agree" on pure intuition, but it seems to me it fits into this context.
3 hrs
  -> thank you, Alexandra
neutral  Andrei B: rise to the occasion = succeed in dealing with a difficult situation, but the Russian context has no connotation of difficulty//The context suggests no extra hard work either, and its difficulty can only be guessed here; it might as well be just pleasure
11 hrs
  -> "Rise to the occasion" - to meet the challenge of an event; to try extra hard to do a task; well, this might have been a difficult task, both financially and logistically//the whole point of this saga is probably about "достать" -by rising to the occasion
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
(parents) had done their best to get glorious results


Explanation:
The original Russian idiom points both to excellent results (на славу) and the great effort taken (постарались).
Other translations suggested on this page are good but they fail to grasp the twofold idea, either de-emphasizing one aspect or shifting the meaning of the whole phase.

Andrei B
Local time: 14:57
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Eric Candle: "Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan"//My point...exactly. "Постараться на славу" - спокойный регистр; "Glorious" - патетический или иронический регистр.
16 hrs
  -> "In case you actually do not want to do the writing for yourself, you can simply find writers that can write for you. Whereas you will have to pay them, you'll still be able to get glorious results"// "спокойный регистр"? Как сказать...
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -1
parents' efforts were glorious


Explanation:
why not convey the real meaning of the source language to the English speaking reader?

cuz "outdo oneself" has somewhat different meaning

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Note added at 14 hrs (2010-10-29 12:01:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the translation conveys the exact meaning of the phrase in Russian. The source Russian expression doesn't mean results, it means efforts!

Michael Kislov
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:57
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Andrei B: The translation misrepresents the real meaning because glorious efforts may not bring glorious results. This is from a report on a soccer match: "Lewis Haldane had two glorious efforts but missed the target on each occasion"
9 hrs
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